M.C. Frank's Blog, page 15
May 13, 2023
adorhauer:
“Easy reading is damn hard writing.” — Nathaniel Hawthorne (via writingdotcoffee)
“Easy reading is damn hard writing.”— Nathaniel Hawthorne (via writingdotcoffee)
May 10, 2023
May 3, 2023
mcfrankauthor:
The Robin Hood WIP diaries (15) - The writer +...
The Robin Hood WIP diaries (15) - The writer + the futureConfession time:
I have a really hard time thinking about the future. My future, the future of my books, the future of my world with me in it. But as I write, I discover I have to think about the future. I have to plan, I have to be excited, and most important of all, I have to hope.
For me, my future was robbed when illness assaulted me a few years ago, and I know I will never get those years back, nor will I get the opportunities I missed and all the things I had to give up back either. I used to think of my life as over (bad as that sounds) until I started writing. And even then, it wasn’t me living actually, but the characters I wrote about.
However, when I started publishing my work, and earning a living out of it, I began to realize some things were changing, and some other things had to change. From being completely lost and having pretty much given up on myself and life in general, I became someone who has done the near-impossible: turned my art into a job. Turned my dream into reality.
When I try to begin to explain to people what my job is (it’s not easy for everyone to grasp the concept of self-publishing, especially if you have to explain the part of self-writing, self-marketing and self-businessing as well) people gape.
They literally do.
They just look at me and gasp, how. How are you doing all that?
And I’m like, oh, I don’t do anything. You see, I’m sick; I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning or anytime, really. But I don’t say this out loud. Out loud I say, yes, I enjoy it very much. But that’s not true. I don’t just enjoy it. It’s keeping me alive. And on that note, I think it’s time to start thinking about the future.
I have stolen a tag from the lovely @adventuresthruwonderland ‘s gorblog although I was not tagged in it.
But as soon as I saw it, I felt the old “revulsion” and despair towards geous contemplating the future take over, and for the first time ever in over 10 years, I did not give in.
Maybe writing about Robin and his desperate, ruthless fight for hope has made me see things differently. Or maybe I just love this story so much, I want to enjoy every part of writing and publishing it, yes, even the future. I mean, if I am imagining a brilliant, happy future for these out laws (well, most of them – spoiler alert) and for my novel, then I might as well imagine it for myself, right.
Maybe that’s the real reason I keep coming back to this particular story, the story of Robin Hood. It gives me hope, just by association. So thank you, Robin.For the longest time, I haven’t been able to see a future where my dad isn’t here, and where I’m not well enough to do the things I used to do before this sickness murdered me (again, sorry for the strong expression, but only those suffering from it will know that that’s exactly what it is). But now I think I will.
I think I will think of a future where my dad is gone and it hurts to breathe, but I live on and he lives on in my heart with me, and is happy watching over me as I honor him with a fulfilling life. I think I will think of a future where I am sick and nearly dead, but not quite. And, slightly paraphrase Katniss, while I’m still here anyway, let’s make some noise.
So, in case you’re not depressed enough already by reading this (I’m sorry), let me make it clear: This is going to be painful and hard and full of sarcasm (as usual). You don’t want to read what’s coming, trust me.
On that happy note, let’s look for this light in the darkness.
Future Me tagThe tag is about your future and what you would like to tell yourself when you are ten years older than your age right now.
· What do you want your life to look like over ten years?
I want to be happy. That’s it. I would love to have my health back, but if that’s not possible, then I would like to be able to live with the dude quietly, and create stories. That little life is enough for me.
If I am really going crazy with my imagination, I would love to have written at least, not necessarily published, 10 of the books that are currently cramming their way out of my brain and into tons of notebooks and word docs. But even half of these would be enough for me, because that would mean that I am still writing and being happy while doing it.
I really really want my Robin Hood WIP series to be finished and for people to read it and love it, that’s for sure.
· What do you want to ask to the future you?
“I know that for a long time you didn’t want to live all those years ahead of you. Now that you have, do you regret it? Did it hurt like it hurts right now to be alive? And where did you find the courage to endure it?”
· What do you want to have her remember?
Every single thing about her father. I don’t want her to lose a word, a look, a moment. I know she won’t, because the memories have a way of getting stronger instead of weaker in grief.
And I want her to remember every happy moment of her life, because grief steals those, and it’s already taken too much of me. No need to take any more in the years to come (if they do). I hope she has fought against grief, and mostly won.
· Where do you think she’ll live?
Now this is dream territory, but bear with me, because if there’s one thing that still makes me incredibly happy, it’s to daydream.
She will live in a little house by the sea, maybe Corfu or something like that, where she can sit by the window every day and write, listening to the surf. Her dude will no longer have to work nights, so he will come home from work in the afternoon, and she will close her laptop and they will go out for long walks and talks together.
(If I’m realistic, I’ll be living right here, though, which isn’t that bad at all either.)
· What do you think she will miss the most about your life now?
Writing the Robin Hood WIP!
I hope I will have finished it by then, and will have published it too, but man am I going to miss being in that world. This is the world I want to live in, out of all my books –the forest, the castle, the towns, even the dungeon (why not, if Robin is in there? I’d be completely safe. Well, mostly. Well, maybe.). Right now, while writing the story, I am in that world and I’m savoring every second.
· What do you think she will be happy about she does not have any more what is present in your life?
Fake friends/people. I think that is a greater poison than people hating you. So I will be glad if by then some people have been weaned out of my life, and only the true ones remain. That would be a blessing!
Tagging all The Book Robin Hoods (writers and readers)! Feel free to answer these “FUTURE TAG” questions on your blogs, tumblrs, websites, videos, wherever you want! Don’t forget to use #thebookrobinhoods and tag me and others from our little family. Let’s get to know each other better. x
I am starting the sequels
April 27, 2023
April 22, 2023
Magic website tool for authors
I see so many authors ask: is it important to have a website?
I can’t answer them loudly enough: YES!And then they get frustrated because it’s too complicated, or they don’t know what to put on their website, or they end up creating it by themselves and it looks cluttered and weird as if a 2 year-old made it (well, the way things are going, a 2 year old would make a much better website than us, but I digress).
I was one of those authors. I did create a website years ago, and I have been driving a TON of traffic to it. BUT.
It has got a lot of things on it: giveaways, personal posts, promos for other authors, announcements of my new books, etc. I wanted just a page with all of my books and I didn’t want it to be a retailer page, or ending with books.to or anything like that. Readers tend to stay away from links like that, if you weren’t aware.
And then, like magic, a SOLUTION!
I know this will sound like magic (it is) but hear me out: I found a new, super easy way to create a website JUST FOR MY BOOKS!
The url is super easy to share too on my instagram and tiktok (where you are only allowed one link), which is a godsend: https://books.mcfrankauthor.com/Isn’t it pretty?
It looks sleek and very user friendly too, it’s clean-cut, professional and it has its own name. I can move my books around or add new ones with 2 or 3 clicks, max.
Magic, right?
How did I do it?
This is the awesome tool I used, the Custom Links and Website Builder on *StoryOrigin*.
I already have a website, but if you don’t, you can create one with a few simple instructions (you will get them personally in an email). The creator of Story Origin was very attentive and helped me every step of the way, so don’t worry if you’re not tech-savvy.
I already had a domain in my name: mcfrankauthor.com but I wanted a cleaner link to send people directly to my books (and I didn’t want to use retailer links, it just doesn’t feel as professional to me).
Now, as you can see in the photo below, I have all my books gathered in one place, and the next time one of my videos goes viral on tiktok or instagram (fingers crossed haha) I will have no problem copy-pasting this little url everywhere: https://books.mcfrankauthor.com/
I have also created individual links for each book, as well as for ARC copies and, most importantly, for my freebies.
The freebies (otherwise known as reader magnets) links go in the back matter of your books and it’s super important that they look small, pretty, memorable and lead the reader to a website that isn’t complicated and looks professional.
This is exactly what I needed. If you’re ready to get started, please check out this post where StoryOrigin’s creator, Evan Gow explains it better here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/StoryOrigin/posts/1419714925235494
Don’t hesitate to message me if you want to learn more, I would love to help other authors the way I have been helped!
Please reblog this for some beginning authors who might need help creating a website for their books!
–
check out ma BOOKS (ha!): https://books.mcfrankauthor.com/
peacefulandcozy:Instagram credit: knzea
April 21, 2023
Magic website tool for authors
I see so many authors ask: is it important to have a website?I can’t answer them loudly enough: YES!
And then they get frustrated because it’s too complicated, or they don’t know what to put on their website, or they end up creating it by themselves and it looks cluttered and weird as if a 2 year-old made it (well, the way things are going, a 2 year old would make a much better website than us, but I digress).
I was one of those authors. I did create a website years ago, and I have been driving a TON of traffic to it. BUT.
It has got a lot of things on it: giveaways, personal posts, promos for other authors, announcements of my new books, etc. I wanted just a page with all of my books and I didn’t want it to be a retailer page, or ending with books.to or anything like that. Readers tend to stay away from links like that, if you weren’t aware.
And then, like magic, a SOLUTION!
I know this will sound like magic (it is) but hear me out: I found a new, super easy way to create a website JUST FOR MY BOOKS!
The url is super easy to share too on my instagram and tiktok (where you are only allowed one link), which is a godsend: https://books.mcfrankauthor.com/Isn’t it pretty?
It looks sleek and very user friendly too, it’s clean-cut, professional and it has its own name. I can move my books around or add new ones with 2 or 3 clicks, max.
Magic, right?
How did I do it?
This is the awesome tool I used, the Custom Links and Website Builder on *StoryOrigin*.
I already have a website, but if you don’t, you can create one with a few simple instructions (you will get them personally in an email). The creator of Story Origin was very attentive and helped me every step of the way, so don’t worry if you’re not tech-savvy.
I already had a domain in my name: mcfrankauthor.com but I wanted a cleaner link to send people directly to my books (and I didn’t want to use retailer links, it just doesn’t feel as professional to me).
Now, as you can see in the photo below, I have all my books gathered in one place, and the next time one of my videos goes viral on tiktok or instagram (fingers crossed haha) I will have no problem copy-pasting this little url everywhere: https://books.mcfrankauthor.com/
I have also created individual links for each book, as well as for ARC copies and, most importantly, for my freebies.
The freebies (otherwise known as reader magnets) links go in the back matter of your books and it’s super important that they look small, pretty, memorable and lead the reader to a website that isn’t complicated and looks professional.
This is exactly what I needed. If you’re ready to get started, please check out this post where StoryOrigin’s creator, Evan Gow explains it better here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/StoryOrigin/posts/1419714925235494
Don’t hesitate to message me if you want to learn more, I would love to help other authors the way I have been helped!
Please reblog this for some beginning authors who might need help creating a website for their books!
–
check out ma BOOKS (ha!): https://books.mcfrankauthor.com/
April 15, 2023
v-v-jones:
Someone please explain to me why I never want ...
Someone please explain to me why I never want to write when I ACTUALLY HAVE TIME to write
shenaniginstigations:
sketchyfletch:
bananonbinary:
xce...
fun alternative: cruise ships. cruise ships exploit workers and can pollute as much as a million cars on a daily basis while dumping endless shit into the ocean and endangering all passengers on board because the on board air quality rivals some of the most polluted cities in the world while being a breeding ground for disease. cruise ships deserve to have negativity associated with them
stop using hospitals as horror settings
also all crimes commited aboard a cruise ship is under the juristiction of whichever country they’re registered to once they’re a certain distance away from land so you have the added bonus of the crimes being very unlikely to be properly investigated (due to usually being physically so very far from the actual police whose juristiction they’re under)
terrifying!
On top of THAT cruise ships tend to have their own morgue, as people tend to die on ships all the time. Good for those spooky scenes.
plus u can just like…leave a hospital. good luck escaping a killer or a monster or a curse or w/e in the middle of the fucking ocean
As an ex cruise ship employee, let me give you some stuff to work with!
Water tight doors! You get a special training video on interacting with these correctly because they will literally cut you in half if you try and go through them while they’re closing!
Freezer vaults for food in the sub decks - you can only get into these with the correct code and they have very thick walls. Good luck if you get shut in one of these just after the last round of checks bucko
There are cameras everywhere…except in the crew cabin corridors. Also there are no windows down there because unless you’re an officer, you live below the waterline. Day and night have no meaning because everything is in the same slightly unsettling yellow light.
Don’t piss off the guys who deal with the rubbish. They have machines down there that can crush metal barrels
As well as morgues, cruise ships usually have one basic operating theatre with all the attendant horrifying equipment in it
One cigarette thrown carelessly in the wrong place WILL start a fire that will gut half the ship.
When we’re pitching side to side, the anchor swings out and then back in, striking the metal outer shell with a noise that shakes half the ship
People disappear overboard more often than you’d really want to be a thing
A lot of cruise ships now have theatres on board (usually towards the front) with all the potential for dark corners, creepy costumes and electrical calamities you could want.
And as op says, you can’t really escape a ship in the middle of the ocean. Particularly during a storm, as then you can’t even evacuate to lifeboats unless the whole ship is going down. On the upside being on board during a storm means most guests hide in their cabins and the staff walk around like drunks, which would likely throw off a skilled murderer’s plans.
Takes notes
You also have the bonus of a corporate overlord who doesn’t give a shit about anything but profits and can be reliably counted on to downplay any disaster in an attempt to avoid publicity.
April 14, 2023
impling:
becuzitisbitter:
frenchroasted:
web-weaver-z:
...
So I found the letter that the Animorphs author and trans ally K. A. Applegate wrote after the series ended and I’m FLOORED
I mean
You want something even crazier? Animorphs ended in May 2001. She didn’t know what was coming, but damn if she didn’t give her readers a much needed dose of reality about the horrors of war right before we were really going to need it.
If you enjoy easily-digestible sci fi, and can get your hands on the animorphs books, I really recommend it. They’re fucking great and thoughtful in a lot of ways you might not have picked up on as a kid. I’ve read the first dozen or so books over the last couple of years and they’ve literally changed the way I look at the world.
Not to butt in since the series came along when I was in high school and thus a bit after my time, but I am a librarian and as such I am ALL ABOUT matching people to the books they need in whatever format is available.. You can download the entire series. It’s free.
Applegate’s statement on the piracy subject is quoted from an AMA here for those that have moral issues with it. for those that don’t want to click, she says: “We do not take them down. Or ask for them to be taken down. I think once the books are available to buy—paper or e—it would be nice if people who could afford it would buy. (our kids have very expensive tastes. You know: food and whatnot.) But for years they’ve been unavailable except by ‘pirated’ means. These men and women kept the series alive. They kept the books available. So no, we did NOT take these books down.”
Go forth, and read.
